


Matthew And Cuckoo-Clock Heart

by lucywho



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, M/M, Violence, inspired by Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock heart, mentions of smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7362226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucywho/pseuds/lucywho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rule number one, never tamper with the hands of the clock.<br/>Rule number two, keep your temper under control.<br/>Rule number three, never ever fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on the Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock heart. I being the animation nerd saw it on the film festival and immediately fell in love with it. And idea for this fic was born :)  
> I would also like to say that english isn't my first languange so I apologize for the all grammar mistakes.

It was the coldest day of the cold year.

Snowflakes were rhythmically falling, in synch with howling wind. They were falling and falling, covering the patched tin rooftops. Black and toxic, smoke was coming out of ugly, misplaced chimneys in contrast to all white streets.  All windows were closed, all the doors were closed. Not even a single pair of footsteps on fresh, pristine white snow.

Well, scratch that. Pair of footsteps could been seen, for a brief time if somebody looked hard enough.

They led to the small house outside of the nameless town where they said the witch lives. Truth to be told there wasn’t any evidence to support that accusation, but Elizaveta was more skilled in art of medicine than anybody in the nameless town and of top of that the most beautiful woman anybody has ever laid their eyes on.

So townsfolk concluded she must be a witch.

Inside the so-called witch's house, the so-called witch was helping the woman deliver twins.

The first child came out pretty quickly. He greeted the world with loud cry and immediately opened his sapphire blue eyes.

But second child, when he finally came after nine long minutes, didn’t open his eyes or let a cry.

He was sickly pale. There was an ice cube in the place where his heart should be.

Elizaveta, thinking quickly on her feet, grabbed a small cuckoo-clock heart which hanged on the wall. She carefully cut the ice cube out from the boy’s chest, inside which was his frozen heart and replaced it with the clock.

The small cry was heard and the boy opened his vibrant violet eyes. The color returned to his skin.

Elizaveta breathed the sigh of the relief.

“I managed to save him today," told Elizaveta to the boys’ mother. “But there are three rules he must follow. Rule number one, he must never tamper with the hands of the clock. Rule number two, he must keep his temper under control. Rule number three, he must never ever fall in love. The mechanism of the clock will overheat and he will die.”

The following morning, boys’ mother disappeared without a word. Elizaveta unable to carry the children of her own decided to keep the boys and raise as her own.

_Fifteen years later_

**“** I tell you Matt one day I will make Arthur fall in love with me and I will marry him.”

They were on their way to home from school and Al was rambling. They started the school just one year ago because they finally convinced Elizaveta they can take care of themselves (they begged).

It was the worst decision ever because Matt as soon as he stepped into it, hated the school. It was the grey place, teachers were strict and nobody liked them. They were witch’s children, he was a freak with no heart.  

In school there was total sum of three people that have tolerated their company. First was Kiku, weird kid who looked foreign and who brought the awesome mechanical toys in school and worked on them all the time. He was fascinated by Matt’s heart. Second, there was Francis, who was genuinely nice to everybody and third was Arthur…

Arthur was a boy a year older than them, a loner who spent most of his days smoking and reading enormous books. It was a mystery how he got his hands on both of those things because his family was really poor.

Anyway that was it. School was a pretty shitty experience if you ask him but…

Al liked being outside of the house and he really liked all three people who tolerated them. And Matt would do anything for the Al.

Al was his protector. He recited the rules when situations go risky to remind Matt, he beat the living crap out of anyone who ever said something to bother Matt and generally kept company to Matt.

So at least he could do was to go to school and listen to his ramblings about the love.

Matt could said that he really loved Al. It didn’t affect his heart, Elizaveta pointed out years ago because there wasn’t anything romantically about it.

Brotherly love and platonic love and romantic love aren’t all the same and they don’t have the same effect on heart.

But, to be completely honest, he was envious of Al. Love and wrath and hotheadedness and everything he wasn’t allowed to feel and be Al could be and feel.

Matt could also said that he loved Elizaveta. Elizaveta was his mother who insisted on being called Elizaveta. He knew of no other. She was always there for them.

He was envious of her too.

Their birth mother, never visited or asked or contacted them. Elizaveta told them she was really young when she gave birth to them and that she probably left them because she couldn’t care for them.

He envied her too.

He envied the whole world.

It wasn’t Al’s fault. It wasn’t Elizaveta’s fault. It wasn’t his birth mother fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. He was just a cruel joke of the nature, never allowed fully love or hate.

Al was unsurprisingly still rambling.  Matt suspected that Al knew that he wasn’t actually listening to him but kept talking mostly for himself. That or he truly is that oblivious.

Town was ugly. It was full of black smoke from the newly opened factories and it seemed that there was only one color in which the buildings were painted. Horrible shade of grey. Why was everything in that freaking town grey?

To get to the side path which led out of the town, to their small, warm, certainly not grey home and Elizaveta they had to pass the main square. Al loved the main square, because he was Al and because he sometimes saw Arthur on it.

Matt was starting to feel sorry for Arthur.

They were walking across the square when he heard the voice yelling. He looked at the middle of the square and saw him. The most beautiful boy he has ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

Boy’s hair was white as snow and his eyes were red as blood. He wore ratty top hat and his clothes was close to falling apart on him. His pants were patched so many times that you couldn’t even see the original fabric. He looked magical; as he was prince of faraway land from all those fairytales Elizaveta read them. Little fluffy thing was sitting on his shoulder. It was a little chick. A deck of cards was in his hands. He smiled. There was something hypnotizing in that smile, Matt was sure.

Then boy opened his mouth and illusion collapsed.

In most obnoxious voice he yelled;

“Come and see The Amazing Gilbert preform one of his famous magic tricks!”

 

Despite that Matt felt drawn to him, as someone was pulling him toward that boy. He began walking to the center of the square.

 

“Matt-“

Everything around him disappeared. The time has stopped. His and boy’s eyes locked. He felt something warm in his chest like someone made a fire in there.

The chick which was on boy’s shoulder decided to move and sit on Matt’s hair. 

Matt didn’t think it was possible but boy’s smile grew bigger and he appeared even more beautiful. Nonverbally he offered Matt to draw a card.

Shyly he drew. It was the ace of hearts.  Warm feeling in his chest grew.

 He heard a distant familiar yelling.

“MATTHEW YOU IDIOT YOUR CLOCK IS OVERHEATING”

 He looked behind and saw furious Al.

“Birdie why is smoke coming out of your chest? Are you a robot? That would be freaking amazing. Not as amazing as me but-”

He gave boy the card back. The cuckoo has thorn its way outside of the shirt and made a sound.

“THAT’S AMAZING!”

“I…”

“Matt what the fuck are you thinking?”

He honestly didn’t know.  The bird shifted in his hair, it was trying to find the perfect position.

 Al pulled him by the sleeve. He was yelling but Matt wasn’t listening. Chick decided it should move.

He waved to the boy.

“BIRDIE you must come again tomorrow!”

 When they were outside of the square Al quickly unbuttoned Matt’s shirt. The hands of the clock were spinning madly. The cuckoo was coming in repeated intervals. Smoke was coming outside of the clock.

“There is no time to fetch Elizaveta. Kiku, Kiku, where is Kiku?” Alfred was panicking. He was desperately looking around for anyone who could help.

And Matt, poor Matt was still speechless and in ecstasy.

By some incredible luck, Arthur was just passing (he was going for a smoke, but nobody needs to know that).

“ARTHUR! GO FIND KIKU!”

Arthur turned to face them and he immediately understood. Few moments passed and he began to run.

“Matt if you die because of some pretty boy I swear I am going to kill you, you idiot.”

Matt who finally composed himself opened his mouth to protest his brother’s logic-

“Let me see.” Kiku said.

Arthur was able to find him pretty quickly, he was staring at the display of clockwork shop few streets down.

He carefully took the front board of the clock down. Gears were starting to slow down. He pushed the cuckoo down into it’s place.

“It will be alright. “

Alfred breathed the sigh of relief. He didn’t even noticed when Arthur sat beside him and squeezed his hand.

“I told you so.”

“You told me nothing you dumb idiot. You almost died. Why? Because you saw some boy-”

“It is not like that and you know it.”

Arthur and Kiku just glanced at each other. It is better not to get involved in brothers’ fight, it could never end well.

“What am I going to tell Elizaveta? Oh, you know, he saw some boy and almost died. It appears now that he can’t even look at people, you should-“

“SHUT UP!”

And Alfred shut up. Matt, sweet Matt, raised his voice.

“I DON’T KNOW, OK? I don’t what I was doing.”

And then Al hugged him. They stayed like that, perfectly in the place, for it felt like hours.

 

 

Al of course told Elizaveta. After that he felt guilty, he tried to apologize to him but Matt didn’t want to listen. He knew that Al was concerned, he understood him. But again Al didn’t understand him. For the first time in his life he felt so pulled to someone, he couldn’t explain it. He knew the rules.

Rule number one, never tamper with the hands of the clock.

Rule number two, keep your temper under control.

Rule number three, never ever fall in love.

But he wants to really live.

 

“Matthew I honestly don’t think you should go to school anymore at least till you calm down a little bit. I am sorry honey but it is for your own good.”

“But mum-“ 

“I am so sorry.”

“It is not fair.”

“Life is not fair,” she whispered.

And that was it. He was supposed to make a peace with it. He was supposed to stay in his room next day and quietly read something. Past Matt, who hated school and other people in general, would do just that. But something changed, he wasn’t same as before.

So the next day, when Elizaveta forced Al to go to school, because apparently he was only making this whole ordeal harder he told Elizaveta he is going to read a book in his room. She followed him.

She tried to spent time with him, but he constantly shove her away.

When she finally left, he snuck out through the window and started walking to the town’s square.

The boy was there again. Gilbert? He wasn’t sure if it was the boy’s name to be honest but he heard him referring to himself as amazing Gilbert so…

He was prepared this time. He took the long breaths and tried to cool himself down as he was approaching to the boy.

“BIRDIE YOU CAME BACK I KNEW IT.”

So much for coming prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got caught up in film festivals but I am back now :)


End file.
